Resilient benchmarks continue to trade in green

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in green in afternoon session amid firm global cues and buying witnessed in consumers durables, oil and gas and banking stocks. Investors’ sentiments got a support after Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the country’s inflation will ease to below 5 percent in current fiscal following steps taken by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India. Further, Chidambaram added that that stability in rupee value will come soon as Indian authorities such as RBI have been continuously taking measures in order to check rupee volatility. Some support also came from World Bank, which has said that Indian economy is likely to improve in the third quarter of current fiscal. On sector specific movement, consumer durables was the top gainer on BSE up by nearly 1.52% followed by oil and gas, capital goods and banking stocks also up by over 0.60%. Meanwhile, selling was witnessed in metal and auto stocks. On stock specific movement, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and HDFC were trading up by over 1.96%, while, Tata Motors, SSLT and Hindalco Inds were down by over 0.90% on BSE. Among other stocks, Gujarat Gas Company has dipped nearly 6% on BSE after turning ex-dividend today. While, Vardhman Textiles has surged nearly 8% and trading nears to its all-time high market price of Rs 420 touched in May 2006.

On Global front, Asian markets were trading mixed with Shanghai Composite down by 0.40% and Taiwan Weighted up by 0.21%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 6,000 and 20,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2,094 stocks traded, 1,181 stocks advanced, while 784 stocks declined on the BSE. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,313.78 up by 84.73 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 20,372.33 and 20,246.59. There were 20 stocks advancing against only 10 declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.48%, while Small cap index up by 0.64%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.52%, Oil and Gas up by 0.89%, Capital Goods up by 0.88%, Bankex up by 0.69% and PSU up by 0.68%. While, Auto down by 0.57% and Metal down by 0.20% were losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 2.07%, ONGC up by 2.05%, HDFC up by 1.96%, Tata Steel up by 1.22% and Gail India up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.58%, SSLT down by 1.48%, Hindalco Inds down by 0.96%, Sun Pharma down by 0.89% and Bajaj Auto down by 0.75%.

Meanwhile, allaying fears of investors in overseas countries, especially the Indian diaspora, concerned over the deteriorating fundamentals of the domestic country, Finance Minister P Chidambaram assured them saying that India is a safe investment destination for them. By adding further, Chidambaram has said that present exchange rate of rupee is a better reflection of its true value and the country is confident that both volatility and speculation have been largely contained.

Finance Minister assured investors that stability in rupee value will come soon as Indian authorities such as RBI have been continuously taking measures in order to check rupee volatility. On inflation front, Chidambaram said that the rate of price rise will ease to below 5 percent in current fiscal following steps taken by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India.

Foreign investment is considered crucial for economic development, as a rise in capital inflow will help support the rupee, which has depreciated over 15 percent against dollar in 2013. Despite the various efforts of Indian authorities to enhance capital inflow, FIIs have pulled out Rs 2,916 crore from debt securities so far this month and have withdrawn Rs 53,070 crore from the debt market since the beginning of year owing to the rising worries over the US Fed tapering.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,028.25 up by 29.20 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 6,040.90 and 6,003.95. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were Cairn up by 2.63%, ONGC up by 2.09%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.89%, Indusind Bank up by 1.80% and HDFC up by 1.76%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.81%, SSLT down by 1.65%, Hindalco Inds down by 1.30%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.87% and Sun Pharma down by 0.77% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted up by 0.21%, Seoul Composite up by 0.65%, KLSE Composite up by 0.01%, Nikkei 225 up by 0.06% and Hang Seng up by 0.37%. While, Shanghai Composite down by 0.40%, Jakarta Composite down by 0.05% and Straits Times down by 0.24%.